Top Bulgarian Nationalist Presents B-day Gifts to Putin

The leader of Bulgaria’s far-right, nationalist Ataka party, Volen Siderov, is in Moscow on his own expense. File photo by BGNES

The leader of Bulgaria's far-right, nationalistAtakaparty, Volen Siderov, has presented to Russian President, Vladimir Putin, for his 60th birthday a plaque with the building of the Parliament, an Ataka badge, and his book "Fundamentals Bulgarianism."

In his message to Putin, Siderov, who is in Moscow, congratulates him and stresses Russia finally has the leadership it needs. He adds the relations between the two countries must develop despite the strong geopolitical pressure and that it would be better for the EU to consider Russia's joining instead of the one of Turkey, the Ataka press office informs Sunday.

The party leader and the entire Ataka parliamentary group are in Moscow on their own expenses to take part in the inter-parliamentary games organized by the Russian Duma (Parliament).

On Saturday, Siderov has met the Speaker of the Russian Federation's Duma, Sergey Narishkin, and has informed him that his Bulgarian counterpart, Tsetska Tsacheva, had banned Ataka's trip, forcing the nationalist to pay from their own pockets.

The two have further discussed the current state of the Russian-Bulgarian energy projects.

Siderov told Narishkin that under the influence of the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, Russo-phobia is intensifying in the country and assured him Ataka was the only political formation working on the advancement of ties between the two countries.